The Japan Labor Flash No.90
Email Journal August 15, 2007

Statistical Reports
Recent Statistical Survey Reports
Current Topics
Wife of Worker Who Died from Overwork Takes Legal Action against
Labor Union
Size of Leisure Market Falls below 80 Trillion Yen for First Time
in 16 Years
Public Policies
Council on Social Security Systems Announces Need for 40-60 Thousand
Additional Workers for Nursing Care Services
Japan Ratifies ILO Convention to Establish Promotional Framework for
Occupational Safety and Health
News Clippings
Commuter Allowances for Dispatched Workers Now Institutionalized
Renewed Recognition of "Ties with Fellow Workers" - Dormitories
for Single Employees Resurrected
Special Issue
Hot August in Japan
Dear Readers
Termination of the Japan Labor Flash

Statistical Reports

-Recent Statistical Survey Reports-

Features
Outline of Survey on Actual Situation of Collective Agreements
(2006)
Survey on Consciousness of Worker's Life (June 2007)

http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/esaikin/2007/e2007-07.htm

Current Topics -Wife of Worker Who Died from Overwork Takes Legal Action against
Labor Union-

On July 31, the wife of a former branch manager of Skylark Co.,
Ltd., a major fast-food chain, who died from overwork, and the
National Union of General Workers Tokyo East, which is assisting
her in calling for a civil conciliation against the Skylark union,
called on the union to make an apology, give an account of measures
taken to prevent death from overwork, and commit to rectifying the
working conditions which caused the death. They brought the claim
to court on the grounds that the union failed to prevent the
employee's "Karoshi": it did not take its obligations seriously and
thus should be responsible for the death.

The wife asked the union what it did for her husband who, as
a branch manager in charge of more than one restaurant outlet, was
required to work an average of 130 hours of overtime every month,
and eventually died in August 2004 from a stroke. His death was
officially recognized in March 2005 as an industrial accident, but
she never received a credible response. It is rare in Japan for a
bereaved person to call on labor unions to take legal responsibility.

-Size of Leisure Market Falls below 80 Trillion Yen for First Time
in 16 Years-

At the end of July, the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic
Development published the "White Paper of Leisure 2007: Changes in
the Leisure Demand and the New Tourism." In 2006, the market size of
the leisure-related industry fell by 1.6 percent from the previous
year to 78.921 trillion yen, below the 80 trillion yen mark for the
first time in 16 years, since 1990. The drop was largely attributable
to the downsizing of the gambling market: the pachinko market shrank
by 4.5 percent from the previous year to 27.455 trillion yen due to
new restrictions on the installment of pachinko-machine models in
high demand, whereas the market for the Japan Racing Association,
i.e., horse racing, remained stagnant, declining by 2.5 percent
from the previous year to 2.823 trillion yen. The market size of
other industries leveled off in general, though the markets for
games and fitness clubs grew, respectively, by 36.8 percent and a
record 6.2 percent, the latter reaching 427 billion yen.

White Paper of Leisure 2007
lhttp://www.jpc-sed.or.jp/eng/research/2007_03.html

US$=117yen (August 15, 2007)

Public Policies

-Council on Social Security Systems Announces Need for 40-60 Thousand
Additional Workers for Nursing Care Services-

On July 26, the Welfare Group of the Council on Social Security
Systems drew up a revised version of the government's basic policy
for securing manpower for social welfare activities.

According to the proposed policy, the number of elderly persons
aged 75 and above is expected to total approximately 15.3 million
by 2014, and the number of those recognized as needing care and
assistance under the nursing system is expected to increase accordingly,
to approximately 6.4 million. The number of additional nursing
personnel necessary to meet such increases is estimated at 400,000
- 600,000, for a total of 1.4 - 1.6 million workers in the sector.
Currently, the job separation rate in nursing and welfare services
is high, and securing workers is a serious problem due to low wages
and chronic overtime. In line with this, the Council's revised policy
proposes the rectification of wage levels by setting appropriate
remuneration standards for nursing-care, the shortening of work hours,
and the promotion of participation in the sector by elderly and other
diversified workers.

-Japan Ratifies ILO Convention to Establish Promotional Framework
for Occupational Safety and Health-

On July 24, Japan became the first country to ratify ILO
(International Labour Organization) Convention No. 187, which
establishes a promotional framework for occupational safety and
health (OSH), announced the ILO's Tokyo Branch Office. The Convention
was adopted by the International Labour Conference in 2006 with the
purpose of encouraging the establishment of OSH by calling on
signatories to draw up prevention programs at home. This was the
first time for Japan to become the first country to ratify any ILO
conventions.

News Clippings

-Commuter Allowances for Dispatched Workers Now Institutionalized-

Pasona Inc., a leading worker dispatch agency, recently announced
that in June it institutionalized the payment of commuter allowances
to its dispatched workers. This was the first such move among leading
worker dispatch agencies.

Regarding allowances for dispatched workers, a majority of companies
incorporate commuter allowances in hourly-based wages, but dispatched
workers themselves have persistently demanded that payments of
allowances be made separately from their wages.

The new allowance system covers approximately 20,000 workers who
have worked for one or more months in metropolitan areas. Under the
system, Pasona provides firms employing their staff with invoices
including wages and all commuter allowances, which the company asks
them to redeem at their discretion. If the amount of a firm's payment
for commuter allowances is below 3,000 yen, the manpower agency makes
up the shortfall up to a ceiling of 3,000 yen. In metropolitan areas
with many job offers, it has been increasingly difficult, as the economy
recovers, to secure able workers. By paying commuter allowances separately,
the agency aims to differentiate itself from its competitors.
(Asahi Shimbun and Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, July)

-Renewed Recognition of "Ties with Fellow Workers" - Dormitories
for Single Employees Resurrected-

Since April 2006, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. started providing a total of
five dormitory houses for single employees.

Company dormitories for single workers and company housing have
traditionally been considered fringe benefits, but after the burst
of the bubble economy, when the company gave up such accommodation
benefits, relationships among employees became less close and workers
tended to become individualistic: around 2002, in fact, the company
was responsible for a spate of bid-rigging and other corporate scandals.
"Such events taught us a renewed recognition of the importance of
environments like dormitories for single employees, where they can
consult colleagues close to them", says the deputy director of the
public affairs division.

The costs of dormitory houses, such as maintenance and management
expenses, are normally 10 percent higher than the cost of company
accommodation in the form of individual rented flats. But the company
sees benefits which cannot be measured in monetary terms. "Rather
than improving fringe benefits", says the deputy director, "we see
providing company dormitories as part of training for each employee
to expand their personal connections within the company and demonstrate
the characteristic strength of a general trading company."

Although residents have to share bathrooms and toilets, some 90
percent of new recruits joining the company last year applied for
the dormitories for single employees.
(Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, July)

Special Issue

-Hot August in Japan-

In mid-August as this issue of the Japan Labor Flash is published,
Japan finds itself in the middle of an extremely hot summer.

In the latter half of July, school had already ended for the summer
holiday, and in early August, there are a variety of major events,
including memorial ceremonies for A-bomb victims in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the two-week National High School Baseball Championship
in Kobe, and a series of large-scale provincial festivals in the
Tohoku region. After the events marking the anniversary of the end
of World War II comes the Obon festival, which is just around the
corner. In a kind of "great migration," masses of families with their
children return to their hometowns to visit family graves. At this
time of year and the New Year's holiday, every Shinkansen bullet
train or airplane is absolutely packed, and drivers on heavily jammed
highways are obliged to move at extremely slow speeds for tens of
kilometers. One of the final events during this Obon season is the
Great Bonfire at Five zen Great Temples of Kyoto which bids farewell
to the spirits which have been visiting their old homes.

Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2003/no.90/90_si.html

Dear Readers

-Termination of the Japan Labor Flash-

The Japan Labor Flash has provided information from various viewpoints
on the labor situation in Japan twice a month since the first issue was
published in October 2003 (its predecessor, the JIL Labor Flash was
first launched in August 2001). Regrettably, this e-mail journal will
be discontinued following the forthcoming final two issues, Nos. 91
and 92, to be released on September 3 and 18, respectively.

From time to time in the future, JILPT will provide information on
its research activities and other developments relating to the labor
situation in Japan. We hope that our readers will continue to give us
their valuable support.